For many different environments, particularly for use in boats and recreational vehicles, it is desirable to provide vacuum toilets. Such systems allow a relatively small volume of flush fluid to be utilized, since it is often difficult to effectively treat, or hold, large volumes of liquid-waste slurrys in such environments. While there have been a number of systems developed which are particularly effective in such environments, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,970 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein), in some specialty applications conventional sewage systems with vacuum toilets become clogged up often, requiring constant maintenance and/or resulting in the sewage handling system being rendered ineffective at times when it is greatly needed. For instance on tour boats, and like vessels, oftentimes users of the sewage handling system are unfamiliar with the necessity to prevent large objects from entering the system, and/or simply do not exercise reasonable care in determining what goes into those systems. As a result foreign objects such as soft drink and beer cans, paper cups, wallets, or the like, block or plug the pipe between the tank and the pump, or other components of the system, resulting in the maintenance and/or out-of-service problems mentioned above.
According to the present invention, a sewage handling system is provided which overcomes the drawbacks associated with conventional systems, and allows effective operation, and easy maintenance, of the sewage handling system even in environments, such as tour vessels and the like, where a substantial amount of foreign object material can be expected to enter the sewage treatment system. The invention effectively accomplishes this objective by providing a vacuum tank which is preferably located directly below the discharge from a toilet, having a vaccum valve associated with the discharge. The vacuum tank includes a large cross-sectional area opening at the top thereof, and a much smaller cross-sectional outlet at the bottom thereof. Baffle means are provided within the vacuum tank and operatively surrounding the outlet, and prevent passage of large, non-degraded objects from the vacuum tank toward the pump. Such objects could be soft drink or beer cans, paper cups, and the like.
For easy maintenance, the vacuum tank is preferably connected by quick disconnect couplings to the toilet discharge, and to a conduit leading from the vacuum tank outlet to a vacuum pump. Also, the vacuum tank provides a convenient means for mounting a vacuum switch which controls operation of the vacuum pump. The vacuum switch is in operative communication with the interior of the vacuum tank, and preferably is mounted to the vacuum tank by a quick disconnect coupling, so that it extends generally horizontally outwardly from the vacuum tank, and is disposed adjacent the top of the vacuum tank.
With the sewage handling system according to the invention, a substantial volume of foreign objects are accumulated within the vacuum tank without hindering operations of the sewage system, and then when it is necessary to periodically clean out the vacuum tank, this may be accomplished simply and easily by using the quick disconnect couplings to quickly detach the vacuum tank from the rest of the sewage treatment system, and empty it of its contents (or replace it with a new tank).
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved sewage handling system utilizing a vacuum toilet. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.